10/2/2007 11:31:04 PM

Show And Tell

With five games remaining, the possibility of making the playoffs is just as real as the threat of missing them for us. With Ricky out for the season, the natural reaction of course is to throw your hands up and say “that’s it, they don’t have a chance.” That’s certainly a justifiable reaction from anyone familiar with Eskimo football in the last few years, since Ricky has been the face of the organization for quite some time – and deservedly so. If not for my faith in our coaching staff, and the rest of our quarterbacks perhaps I too would be less optimistic about our chances. To be honest, I’ve never been considered by others to be particularly optimistic…more of a realist really. The reality is that we’re in control of our own destiny at this point, and it will take nothing more than for us deciding that we want to play in November, for it to be so.
Ideally, this would be the time when we’re getting healthy as a team, welcoming injured players back onto the roster for the run into the post-season (ie. Eddie Davis in Saskatchewan, Dante Marsh in B.C.) Instead we’re losing major contributors like Mathieu Bertrand (1st in CFL special teams tackles,) T.J. Acree and Ricky Ray for considerable amounts of time. I’m trying desperately to stay off of that list myself! One of the great things that I find in this league is the fact that in spite of all of the struggles that we’ve had to endure this year, we’re still smack dab in the middle of the play-off picture.
I thought about trying to look at the schedules of the teams that we may be battling to get into the playoffs with in attempt to estimate the likelihood and probabilities, but decided against it. Ultimately, the fact of the matter is that if we just take care of our own business each week we won’t have to worry about anything, or anyone else. I’m excited to see Stefan get an opportunity this week to show his stuff on such a large stage. I have a hunch he’ll show up well for us and give us a chance to steal a win in Toronto. I realized pretty early on in camp that quarterbacking was not going to be an issue for us, just from having seen so many in my career come and go – ours can all play legitimately within their own rights. I have a feeling that many people are sleeping on Stefan and Steven’s abilities and savvy which is fine by me, I’m sure they’ll relish the opportunity to make believers out of anyone willing to watch.
As for me, this week was particularly tough because I actually missed two days of practice in attempt to try to heal up some of the wounds that the game has given me in the past couple of weeks. Missing practice is a part of some player’s general routine for the year, and in turn they get used to functioning accordingly. I’m not one of those players at all. For me to miss even a day of practice, they’re must be something completely prohibiting me from doing my job. In this case, the broken thumb wasn’t really enough to keep me out of practice because I could still run, but the hamstring strain makes me somewhat of a waste out there until such a time as I can keep up with everyone again and fly around. I’m working overtime in the training room in order to get my body back up to speed in time to take the field with my teammates on Saturday.
We each have a part to play, my job right now is to allow my body to heal up enough to tax it again on Saturday, and make plays when called upon. Sitting idly has never been something that I was able to manage however, so this week has been tougher than most for me. ©

KP8